Fortunately, most of her suspicions and unanswered questions began to align when she noticed sothing peculiar: both their current student council president and Princess Snow White, the other woman who often seed to orbit Riley, had also mysteriously disappeared around the sa ti.
The coincidence was far too glaring to ignore.
Rose knew Snow was ambitious-calculating, cold, and, above all, aggressive when it ca to pursuing her goals.
And among those goals, Riley seed to hold a disturbingly high priority.
Snow was by far the most relentless of the so-called "cats" chasing after him, always a few steps ahead, playing her cards with careful precision.
But Rose hadn't expected this.
To take advantage of their respective punishnts to orchestrate sothing so bold... it was audacious, even for Snow.
"I don't know why you're at the Imperial Palace, Riley, but that white cat sure has gotten ballsy..."
Rose muttered, narrowing her golden eyes as she pieced together the situation in her mind. It was frustrating-infuriating, even. If it weren't for her own recent punishnt, which had confined her to her room for a few days, she would've noticed Snow's scheming much sooner. She hated being blindsided, especially by soone like Snow, who always seed to find a way to outmaneuver others.
But no more.
Rose wasn't about to let this slide.
The situation had already escalated too far, and she refused to let Snow get the upper hand. Her mana sensitivity, her ability to trace and pinpoint mana signatures, was unparalleled. If there was one thing she prided herself on, it was this.
And in terms of tracking Riley, no one-not even an army of archmages-could surpass her on that.
Closing her eyes for a brief mont, Rose focused, letting her mana flow outward in delicate tendrils, reaching across the ether in search of his familiar signature. It didn't take long. "I've got you,"
Snow might have gotten a head start, but Rose wasn't about to let her get too far ahead.
After finalizing her appearance, Rose took one last look at her reflection in the full-length mirror before her.
She nodded in satisfaction, adjusting a tiny detail on the dress to ensure everything was just right.
The ensemble, carefully chosen, struck a perfect balance between elegance and allure.
She knew Riley-despite his aloof, "too-cool-to-care" deanor-had an unintentional tendency to let his gaze linger on certain areas.
Rose made sure to play into that just a little, letting her dress reveal just enough to exude a subtle, tasteful hint of cleavage.
"Just a little sothing for him to enjoy,"
She wasn't sure what Snow had been doing with Riley over the past week, but Rose wasn't about to let anything slide if it turned out that things had gone too far.
She had her limits and Snow pushing them was never a good idea.
For Rose, Riley wasn't just another person in her life.
He was the only color in her otherwise grayscale world.
The one vibrant light that made everything bearable.
If Snow had done anything-anything-to dim that light or take it away from her, then there would be consequences. Severe ones.
She won't hesitate to throw down a literal sun on the Imperial Palace....
Her mana flared instinctively at the thought, the air around her beginning to shimr and hum with power.
A series of bluish-white magic circles appeared, spinning and layering atop one another as the temperature in the room shifted subtly.
It wasn't just any magic; this was [Celestial Magic]-a force unique to most mages in the world, a rare and ancient power capable of bending both ti and space.
As the blue-white glow intensified, a faint tinge of dark red began to weave through the circles, swirling like threads of molten energy.
Using a standard [Teleport] spell to breach the Imperial Palace's defenses was nothing short of suicidal for most mages.
The protective magic surrounding the palace was designed to detect and repel intruders with ruthless efficiency.
Attempting to teleport directly inside would not only alert the Imperial mages to one's presence but also trigger a cascade of defensive spells capable of obliterating anyone reckless
enough to try.
But such dangers were re trivialities to soone like Rose.
For mages below the level of an archmage, or for those who lacked the intricate knowledge of celestial magic, this would have been an insurmountable obstacle.
However, Rose was neither ordinary nor limited by such constraints.
Closing her eyes, she focused her mana, extending her senses beyond the physical realm.
She pinpointed the faint traces of Riley's mana-the remnants of where he had spent the most ti.
The Imperial Palace's protective enchantnts blurred the clarity of his location, shrouding it in a haze of interference.
But for Rose, the interference wasn't a deterrent; it was rely a puzzle to be unraveled.
She smirked to herself as her celestial magic flared to life.
Once she had even the faintest lock on Riley's mana, the rest was irrelevant.
Channeling her celestial magic, she began weaving an intricate spell.
This wasn't a simple teleportation spell-it was sothing far more advanced.
The protective barriers and detection spells surrounding the palace were layered and complex, but celestial magic was the art of bending ti and space itself.
With a forceful push, Rose bypassed the wards, tearing through the magical defenses with the precision of a scalpel.
The room around her beca saturated with energy as bluish-white magic circles ford in the air, spinning faster with each passing second.
Threads of deep red mana intertwined with the light, creating an awe-inspiring display of
power.
The sheer intensity of the magic caused the air to hum and distort, the pressure building as
the spell reached its peak.
Rose exhaled slowly, steadying herself.
"This is going to drain dry-"
She could already feel the spell's imnse mana cost beginning to take its toll, but it didn't
matter.
Rose's mana reserves were far beyond what most mages could comprehend, and even if this consud the majority of her energy, she still had more than enough to spare.
With a sudden flash, Rose vanished and reappeared in an unfamiliar room.
The space around her was grandiose and elegant, its luxurious design exuding a sense of
subtle refinent.
Yet, the intricate decor barely registered in her mind as her instincts took over.
She didn't linger to appreciate the ornate furnishings or the soft glow of enchanted lights
lining the walls.
The mont her mana stabilized after the forceful entry, it surged outward like a tidal wave, seeking the one thing that mattered most-Riley.
And there it was. She could feel it-Riley's mana was near.
The faint traces of his unique energy filled the room, unmistakable and reassuring, like a
distant star in a dark sky.
She even caught the faint, familiar scent that always seed to cling to him, a mix of warmth
and sothing inexplicably comforting.
But... he wasn't here.
Her golden eyes darted around the room, scanning every corner as if Riley might sohow
appear from thin air.
A pang of frustration surged through her chest.
Where was he?
Why wasn't he here?
As her thoughts raced, she beca aware of two unfamiliar presences in the room.
She turned her gaze toward them, her expression unreadable but her mana still pulsating in the air like a barely restrained storm.
Two individuals stood frozen in place, their faces pale as they stared at her in a mix of awe and
fear.
They were trembling slightly, unable to move under the sheer pressure of her condensed
mana.
Rose hadn't even registered their existence at first-making her slightly wonder how they got pass her mana sense but then why would she even bother in the first place?
Their presence was insignificant, like background noise drowned out by the overwhelming
symphony of emotions raging within her.
One of them, a young woman with striking white hair and a resemblance to soone irritatingly familiar, finally mustered the courage to speak.
If not for her purplish eyes, she would've assud she was the white cat, trying to hag Riley
to herself.
"Who are you?" the woman asked, her voice carrying an edge of caution.
Rose's gaze flickered to the speaker for only a mont, but she dismissed her just as quickly.
The question didn't matter.
None of this mattered. There was only one question burning in her mind, consuming every
other thought.
"Where is Riley?" Rose asked sharply, her voice steady but laced with impatience.
Her words hung in the air like a command, leaving no room for defiance.
She didn't care how rude she might seem; courtesy was irrelevant when her heart was
spiraling into a storm of confusion, worry, and a dozen other emotions she couldn't na.
Unbeknownst to the young Lady the mana circle inside her, was amplifying the foreign
emotions she felt for the first ti....
Extre Jealousy....
.....
anwhile, in the Imperial Palace's Mage Departnt, a storm of panic had erupted.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"
"I-I don't know, sir!"
"The mana stabilizers are in complete ltdown!"
"Sir! Two hundred and twenty-one protective layers have been forcibly broken!" one mage
cried out, his voice trembling. "No, it's more like... soone sliced through them like butter!"
"Are you telling a dragon just waltzed into the palace?!" another mage shouted, his face
pale with fear.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
"Alert His Majesty imdiately! The Grand Duke must've already noticed by now-prepare to
obey his commands!"
The entire departnt was in chaos as the head imperial mage, Bermund Roswell, scrambled
to make sense of the catastrophe.
Sweat beaded down his forehead as his eyes locked onto the massive holographic screen in
front of him.
The screen displayed a detailed map of the imperial palace, now bathed in flashing red alerts.
"Damage reports are flaring everywhere!" one assistant exclaid. "This isn't normal-it's like-"
"I don't care what it's like!" Bermund roared, cutting him off. "Where's the damn source?!" One of the mages gulped and pointed at the screen. "Sir... it's concentrated in... that room." Bermund's stomach dropped as his gaze followed the trembling finger.
The blinking red alert, pulsating with an absurdly dense amount of mana, wasn't just anywhere—it was localized in a room belonging to a certain very important individual. His blood ran cold. He barely managed to get the words out. "No... don't tell ..."
The room of a certain special guest....
The color drained from Bermund's face as realization hit him like a thunderbolt. This wasn't a simple breach or a rogue monster-this was a calculated, deliberate intrusion.
And judging by the sheer amount of mana concentrated in that single area, whoever had
entered wasn't just powerful; they were practically a walking calamity. "Are we sure this isn't an error?!" soone shouted desperately.
"No, sir! The mana signature matches... but it's... unnatural!" "Unnatural my ass! It's lethal! We're dealing with sothing way beyond protocol!"
Bermund clenched his fists as he barked orders, trying to maintain so semblance of
control.
"Deploy every available mage to secure the area! Keep His Majesty inford of every move-
if even a hair on that individual is hard, we're ALL DEAD!"
As he turned back to the screen, his heart sank further.
The source of the intrusion wasn't moving or hiding-it was just there, radiating pure,
terrifying power.
The mana reading was so intense it was warping the protective barriers still struggling to
contain it.
He let out a shaky breath, muttering under his breath, "Fuck ..."
Thirty years of loyal service to the imperial family, and Bermund Roswell, the esteed head
imperial mage, now found himself staring down the barrel of a disaster so colossal that he was sure of one thing-his career was over.
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